We human beings tend to forget how far we've come as a species in a relatively
short period of time.

In the 1870's, we had the first house that was lighted with electricity. Cars just
started to become available 100 years ago. Charles Lindbergh made the first
transatlantic flight in 1927. Televisions didn't become widely available until after
WWII. In other words, the advances humankind has made in a relatively short
period of time -- thanks to men like Edison, Bell, Tesla, Einstein, Franklin, Salk, and
the Wright Brothers -- have been nothing short of extraordinary.

Perhaps just as extraordinary is how we tend to simply adapt to these incredible
changes, not realizing how completely our world has been altered in a short
amount of time. With that in mind, it seems worth looking back at some of the
amazing scientific advances we've made in the last few decades.

7) Cell phones: Phones have been around since the late 1800s, but
cell phones only started to become widely available in the seventies. Today, by
some estimates, more than 90% of Americans and more than 4.6 billion people
worldwide have mobile phones. Anything that useful, that spreads that fast, has
to be considered one of the greatest inventions of all time. Of course, it has also
made it possible for jerks to talk on the phone in the movie theater, but every
leap forward has a price.

6) The Artificial Heart: There is nothing that piques the interest of a
human being quite as much as living a longer life. Implanting a person with
an artificial heart in 1982 was an extraordinary step towards increasing the
human lifespan, even if the initial patient lived for only 112 days. One day, more
advanced versions of artificial organs will likely allow us to live much longer, more
productive lives. When we get there, we'll owe a lot to Robert Jarvik's artificial
heart. It also opens up the possibility that we might be able, for the first time, to
provide union bosses across the country with an organ that they’ve been missing
all their lives.

5) The Personal Computer: Today, we take for granted that we have
one machine that allows us to access the Internet, do word processing, use a
calculator, watch TV, and play games. But, the personal computer only became
widely available to consumers in 1974. Things really took off when Microsoft
Windows became available in 1985 and it's good that it did; without the
prevalence of personal computers, the Internet wouldn't have had nearly as big
an impact. We’d also have been denied all those smug Apple commercials, which
would be a terrible tragedy for people who absolutely love condescension.

4) The First Communications Satellite: In 1962, the first satellite capable
of sending and receiving data was sent into orbit. Today, we use satellites for GPS,
TV, radio, weather tracking, military surveillance, space exploration and global
communications among other things. It also gives paranoid men one more thing
to spend their time worrying about instead of plotting to get revenge on the
neighbors down the street for “hiring the people who follow me around all the
time.”

3) The Moon Landing: The first man landed on the moon in 1969, a
feat that was so fantastic that there are still conspiracy theorists who insist it
couldn't be possible. Putting a man on the moon is perhaps man's most inspiring
accomplishment; it opened the door to future space travel and led to a number of
spin-off inventions including flame resistant textiles used by firefighters, invisible
braces, improved satellite dishes, and better medical imaging. Sadly, the moon
didn’t turn out to be made of cheese, which did prevent the Democrats from
engaging in the world’s most expensive welfare cheese giveaway.

2) The Internet/World Wide Web: The ARPANET (The first Internet)
was invented in 1969 and the public only had access to the World Wide Web
starting in 1993. Today, less than 20 years later, the web has revolutionized
the dissemination of news, has created a new multi-trillion dollar economic
phenomenon, has played a role in revolutions, and has interconnected much of
the globe. It has also made it possible for spammers all over the planet to reach
out and touch someone, but no invention is perfect.

1) The Microchip: The forerunner to the microchip was invented back in
1959, but it didn't really start to take off until the 1980s. Since then, incredible
advances in microchips have made it possible for them to be cheaply and
efficiently used for calculators, personal computers, pet identification, automatic
teller machines, satellites, pacemakers, cell phones, and microwave ovens among
many, many other products. As the century goes on, expect microchips to end up
in just about anything and everything -- including you, if you live long enough.